K Wave-ring?

I have been blogging about Korea, Korean food, Korean dramas, Korean music, in other words, anything to do with Korea for a long time. Since March 2006 to be exact.

During these 9 years, I have seen K Wave gained traction and reached a frenzy stage. But in the past 2 years, there has been a marked slow down in the once unstoppable tsunami. There have been less concerts, fan meetings, artistes’ appearance etc. At it’s peak, there were about 4-6 concerts/ appearances per month. So much so that some of us were crying out: “No more! Don’t come!” Seriously, at one point, I couldn’t remember which group’s press conference I was attending or who were the members. Was that A-Prince or Ajax or AOA? Do they have 5 members or 6 members or 8 members? Is the name Min Ho or Minho?

If you’ve seen Super Show 2,3 and 4. Do you still want to watch Super Show 5 and 6? And with each event costing a minimum an arm and a leg or two (legs), how many fans can afford to attend these events?

But for me, the fatigue goes beyond that. .

Almost all concerts/ showcase/ fan meetings end up strikingly similar. There is the song and dance, the games, the MVs and the occasional tears. Some show are fantastic, some are ok and some are so soul-less that you really do wonder how much they are being forced to be on that stage.

At one time, Korea was the ‘homeland’, a must go-to place to get our fix of cheap face masks and cosmetics and to fill our tummy with the banchan and BBQ. Now, all the top cosmetic brands are available in Singapore (though not necessarily cheap). And there are so many Korean restaurants and cafes everywhere that you can probably try a new one everyday for a whole year. And I will be doing a review of 2 of the restaurants in the next few days.

So what I am getting at?

I think the Korean wave has reached a saturation point, at least here in Singapore. I’m not saying it’s going to die down. Far from it, like the Hong Kong dramas or the Taiwanese music scene or even the Japanese horror movies, it will stay. But it will not be as crasy as it was at its peak.

Hallyu has come a long way.

Even the man that started the wave is getting married. Yes, Bae Yong Joon is finally getting married. And all I could think of when heard the news was, ‘About time!’

But I’m not ‘off’ K Wave. I still like Korean food, watches selected Korean drama and love some K Pop. And I definitely would still love to go Korea. I guess the key words would be ‘selected’ and ‘some’.

Are you still as mad over K Wave?